Stick with your plan Scott. Going after the rust is not a “while you are in there” proposition. It is a completely different scope of work. It takes most e9 restoration shops more than your quoted 36 hours to rebuild the rockers. If you only did that, you still wouldn’t be doing “enough”. Yup - more scope creep. You can’t pull the front fenders off, mitigate rust and weld them back on in that 36 hour window. Blasting the car would reveal all the rust, and would be another $1K+ in Idaho. Don’t forget disassembly and assembly of *everything. Then you are left with a car that would need to be filled and blocked everywhere just to get it back to the smooth surface that you have right now.
Don’t think for a minute that there aren’t hundreds of member cars with rust similar to yours. Their cars look nice and they are enjoying them. They just keep to themselves in a thread like this while a handful of members are advocating a bare metal restoration.
I mean no disrespect to the good intentions of those who responded. Your recommendations are sound, but not right-sized for the everyone. I’m going down that painful bare metal path eventually but like Scott I’m taking my time. I like to drive my car even if I can see the road between my feet.
Scott, I agree with Markos. I am one of those, "hundreds of member cars with rust." I have no idea whether it is more or less than yours, but I have rust! Although mine is an Italian euro coupe, I am sure it was driven in the rain by PO's. I bought it 25 years ago. About 20 years ago I had it painted in the original Polaris, most of the chrome, etc off, sanded, primed and painted. Nothing else. Surprise, it had been painted before!!! Cost then: $4,000. Since then I have driven it in the rain, on and off the track. "Always garaged" is meaningless. I have always garaged it but who knows before me.
Honestly, not a single bubble yet. But who knows what lurks in its heart. I have had 25 years of pure pleasure. Who could ask for more.
Finally, for your reading pleasure, here is the story I read. "Story, myth?" Members, chime in here. The shells were placed on open freight cars after Kharmann was finished doing their magic. Shipped to the factory for final assembly, they sat outside until needed. So if the story is true, the rust began well before they left the factory.
Steve